University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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ti IV® T ?e PAZOREACIC Dean W. N. Gladson CCLLECC €f ENGINEERING T7NGINEERING is an applied science which can he traced back to the most primitive civiliza¬ tion. One may acquire proficiency in any branch of Engineering in one of two ways: first, by long practice, beginning as an apprentice with a professional engineer and serving in various capacities from the simplest to the most responsible position in the field, followed by personal experience in responsible charge of engineering works; or second, by completing four or more years of study in an Engineering College, during which one will acquire a knowledge of the physical sciences, mathematics and the rudiments of engineering practice, followed by a short apprentice¬ ship with professional engineers and a period of independent practice. The advantages claimed for the second method are a shorter period between the first apprenticeship and the final goal of professional engineering and the ability of the college to impart more complete knowledge of the fundamentals of Engineering and at the same time give the student a broader foundation on which to build his final technical knowledge. The college graduate is not limited in his choice of a profession to any particular field, but after finishing his college career is prepared to enter any one of a number of allied branches of Engineering and may develop as an executive, as a designing, commercial, construction or operating engineer, or his knowledge will be of value in any field of human endeavor should he decide to quit the field of engineering entirely. Engineering has been a part of the University of Arkansas’ curriculum since the founding of the institution. The Engineering College seeks to serve the people of the state: first, in residence teaching; second, by extension teaching; and third, by research in the Engineering Experiment Station, it seeks to improve processes of manufacture, to aid in developing the state’s natural resources, to solve engineering problems for the rural and urban population of the state, and to discover new knowledge and fundamental laws. The corps of teachers and research workers in the College of Engineering is small but carefully selected for their training and experience, each in his particular line. The physical equipment is limited but in each laboratory an effort has been made to secure the best. Duplications have been avoided and each machine and instrument represents a class of modern, useful equipment which will be found in the every-day practice of Engineering. Page 32 X 1930 U 7 ——

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COLLEGE CL EDUCATION Dean C. E. Prall A S I write these lines, two thoughts regarding the functions of a teacher-training school in a Uni¬ versity come prominently to mind. The first recalls the remarks of an Eastern college administrator, who had just completed an elaborate study of the “great teachers” in the colleges of the late ’90’s. He said, “The popular saying that great teachers are born and not made is untrue. The great teachers of the preceding generation were very largely self-made; it would be an error to conclude that they came by their greatness without a long process of develop¬ ment.” It is probable that no training school or college of education ever turns out a ready-made product. At best it serves to short-circuit the long and circui¬ tous process by which the hard-working teachers of the preceding generation became worthy of the title “great.” We talk of professional training as if it were completed at graduation, when actually it is only the preliminary step towards professional development that has been completed. This in itself however, is of sufficient im¬ portance to society to justify teacher training work in a University. A second function of a teacher-training unit in a University is to make sure that its prospective teachers really receive a University education. Perhaps the significance of this statement will be more completely understood from the story of the Englishman, who, looking at the dry bed of a California river, said, “ I never realized before how much water improves a river.” The first teacher-training agencies were content to spend all of their energies upon the “dry bed” of the immediately practical in higher education. This was not inconsistent with the philosophy of the period, which assigned the teacher a very restricted and formalized place in the educational system. The modern teacher, however, must fill such a variety of demands that it is imperative that he possess a broad general background of education in addition to his profes¬ sional training and to his specialization in his chosen fields. This function is still but poorly performed in the average college. Perhaps the University of Arkansas may be able to lead in the movement to assure a University education for each prospective teacher. One of the objectives of the college of education is to extend our services beyond the small confines of the University campus. The improvement of teachers in service has come to be quite as much a function of our Universities as the training of teach¬ ers for service. Page 31

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CCELEGE CE A6CICLLTIJCE Dean Dan T. Gray COME faculty members of the College of Agricul- ture of the University deal primarily with teach¬ ing. while others deal with teaching and research. The College of Agriculture of the University does three things. Its work is divided into three main divisions. One of these is the Agricultural Experiment Station. The group of scientists making up the staff of the Agricultural Experiment Station devotes its time to solving the problems which are too involved and too expensive for individual farmers and farmers wives to sol ve for themselves. These problems have to do with plant diseases, animal diseases, nutrition, fertilizers, varieties of field crops, fruits, and vege¬ tables, marketing, destructive insects, and economic and social problems of the farm and of the home. The College has approximately thirty-five workers associated with the Agricultural Experiment Station, each devoting his time, or a part of it, to definite research problems. Discovery of new facts for the farmers of the state is, therefore, the central object of the Agricultural Experiment Station. Teaching resident students is another division of the College of Agriculture. This phase of the College’s work is most familiar to the students, since teaching affairs are activities which can be seen by all students. The College proper, there¬ fore, deals with resident students, and undertakes to discover and develop new leadership for the rural people of the state. The third division of the College of Agriculture is extension work in agri¬ culture and home economics, which is known well throughout the state. While the average student of the campus sees little of this part of the work of the College, still it consists of nothing except simple pedagogy. However, the students taught are not on our campus nor in our classrooms; these students are out on the farms and in the farm homes—men and women who are too old to come on the campus, and boys and girls who are too young. This part of the faculty of the College of Agriculture is scattered over the entire state. There are approximately 135 men and women employed in this service, all of whom are busy teach¬ ing the farm men and women of the state improved practices in farming and home-making. This extension department of the College of Agriculture is one of the most important. By this means the College is enabled to give those people who are the taxpayers of the State, and who are supporting the state university and the College of Agriculture, the benefits of this College. Page 33